The Forgotten Ones
by Letters From No One
Summary: As Emma struggles to deal with the turmoil going on at home, life at Hogwarts becomes crazier. Lily slowly falls for James, mysterious scars appear on Remus, her best friend, Lucy, likes her brother, and something is bothering Sirius. With a war erupting outside of the gates of the school, friendships will be gained and lost, lives will be sacrificed, and dark forces will grow.


**AN: New story! As a blanket disclaimer, I (obviously) own nothing. Sit back and enjoy the show!**

"Hey, Emma! Quick question for you!" Sirius beckoned me inside his compartment, where James, Peter, and Remus also sat.

"Hello, to you to! Oh, how was your April break, Emma? It was fine, thanks for asking- oh wait you didn't!" I replied, slightly irked.

They laughed, before dragging me fully inside the compartment, then shutting and locking the door.

"Guys," I questioned, "what are you doing?"

"It's about Lily," James piped up.

"Uh-uh," I shook my head frantically. "I'm not getting involved with whatever half-witted scheme you have going on here."

"Hey! It's not 'half-witted!'" James interrupted! "I spent a long time on this!"

I just looked at him.

"Ok, ok, so it was only like five minutes. But it is still a good plan!"

I traded glances with Remus, who just looked amused.

"Emma, if you just tell us her favorite flower, we'll let you go. If you don't, well, we've got the whole train ride." Sirius stretched up to his full height, which was almost a foot taller than my petite frame, trying to intimidate me.

"One, you don't scare me. Back home, I live on the wrong side of the tracks, where most people carry knifes. Two, what makes you think I know her favorite flower? It's not like we stay up late at night talking about that sort of thing. And three, why would I tell you?"

"Ok, then can you at least tell us something… like, I dunno, her favorite color or something?"

"If I do, can I go?"

"Yeah, sure, just tell me!" James paused, and then added, "please," almost as an afterthought.

"It's green. You know, to match her eyes."

James brightened at this, already thinking of different ways he could use this tidbit. I rolled my eyes, gave them all a quick smile, and then left the compartment.

I hurried through the crowded hallway, returning to the compartment my friends and I had occupied before I had left to go to the bathroom.

"Emma, what took you so long? We almost sent out a search and rescue party!" Marlene, my dorm mate, exclaimed dramatically.

"Nothing, I was just sidetracked by the marauders- Lily, beware. I was forced to tell them your favorite color."

She looked up from her book with alarm. The last time this happened, a band of puppies, her favorite animal, followed her around the castle with notes on their collars asking her out. McGonagall gave her detention for having the dogs in the first place, and then deducted points because the puppies peed all over the floor.

"Nooooo! McGonagall will kill me if it's anything like last time!"

The rest of the train ride passed quickly, with the five Gryffindor 5th years dreaming up different ways James could torture Lily.

The next morning I slid onto the bench of the great hall, grabbing a stack of pancakes as I continued my argument with Lucy, one of my other dorm mates.

"Honestly Luce, I don't understand what there is to get. I have a lot of siblings. End of story."

"But Em, you have like a gillion siblings. It's unreal. I only have one, and he annoys the heck out of me. I don't think I could put up with that many."

The marauders arrived, reaching for every bit of food in sight. James sat down across from me and bit into and apple, frowning, before he jumped into the conversation. "Wait, how is that even possible? You already have one brother here, and since he's older, your next sibling must be at least, what five years younger? You're 15, right?"

I smiled a little at how wrong he was.

"Yeah, I'm 15, but my family is kind of unusual. My mom is a squib, so some of my siblings have magic and some don't," I paused, fixing Lucy with a mock glare. "And it's seven, not a gillion. But there's Alfrick, who is only six months, and then there is Aidan, who is three and whom we think is magical. He exploded his broccoli the other day, which is a pretty sure sign. Elle and Darcy are five-year-old twins and they are the devils reincarnate. I'm still thanking god that they're out of their terrible twos. And Rory is nine and definitely magical. Jane is 14 and a squib, and then there is me, obviously. And-"

"I'm oldest." I was cut off by the arrival of my older brother, Noah, who plunked himself down and swung an arm around my shoulder.

I glared playfully, shoving his arm off before looking questioningly up at him. We were close, yes, but didn't really talk to each other at meal times.

"I have a note for you, from mom." I snorted. Mom would never write to us unless she couldn't avoid it, and even when it was something really important, like she pregnant again, we usually found out about that from Jane. From across the table, Sirius watched with inquisitive eyes. He rarely talked to outsiders if he could help it, and I was definitely not close enough for him to engage in conversation with.

Noah slipped the paper into my hand, before standing up again.

"Well as much fun as it is to talk to lowly fifth years, I have to go. And James, Sirius, we have practice tonight at eight. Don't be late."

Noah was the Gryffindor quidditch captain, and he took it _very_ seriously. He was already being recruited by several national teams, and had talked to a couple coaches about playing for them.

Once Noah was out of earshot, Lucy spoke up. "Ugh, why is he so hot? The hair, and the face, and the arms…"

"Ew, Luce, that's my brother."

"Yes, but it's your _hot_ brother.

"Believe it or not, I'd rather not discuss his arm muscles," I commented dryly.

She turned to our other dorm mates, Lily, Marlene, and Mary, looking for backup.

"Don't look at me," said Lily, "I think it's weird that you talk about him with Emma. At least wait until she's gone."

"Nahh," disagreed Marlene, "I'd jump him as well. He just has the whole package. He's good at quidditch, he's funny, smart, care-free, happy-go-lucky, has an amazing smile…"

"Ok, that's enough!" Lily cut her off abruptly. I smiled thankfully at her.

"Well, I'm out if you guys are going to keep talking about Noah. It takes forever to get to Arithmancy from here anyways. Anybody else coming?" Sirius and Lily also took the class, but Lily had just started to eat her meal. I doubted Sirius would come with me, but I offered anyways.

As usual, Sirius surprised me. He nodded once, grabbing his bag and jacket from the bench before getting up.

We walked out of the great hall in silence. It stuck me that we had never been alone together before, and I had no idea what to talk about.

I opened up the note Noah had slipped me, trying to read what he wrote. I squinted at the letters, trying to decipher the messy handwriting. Ok, this was ridiculous- was this an m or a z? I brought it closer to my face, and finally made out the words: Common room, midnight.

I winced. Noah and I met every week to talk about what was going on at home, and to do taxes, paperwork and the like that my mom neglected. But having an unscheduled meeting was bad. It meant that mom was getting married again, or we were evicted, or mom lost her job or something of the sort. If it wasn't at least a six on the self-created 'Thomson family emergency scale,' we let it wait until our weekly meetings.

Sirius glanced at the note, and I met his gaze sharply. This wasn't his business.

"So I take it the note wasn't from your mother?"

"How did you know that?"

"The note says common room. Your mom is at home. How on earth would she get into Hogwarts tonight?"

I frowned, but didn't say anything.

We both automatically turned down a set of stairs that led to a shortcut. Forgetting to skip the trip step, like I always did, I sunk to my knees. Sirius sighed, turning around and offering his hand. I took it, and he yanked me out.

We walked for several more minutes in silence, before Sirius opened his mouth again.

"I thought you hated me, after yesterday."

"Huh?" I said intelligently, surprised he thought that.

"You just seemed really angry. With the whole thing about not being scared of me and all that."

"Oh, um, no. No, I don't hate you. I wasn't even mad. Just a lot annoyed. I had a stressful vacation, so I wasn't in the best of moods."

"Were you telling the truth- about the knives?"

I looked at him for the first time since he had started the conversation. He looked genuinely worried, and debated whether I should tell the truth or not.

"Yeah, I was. It's not like I regularly got mugged or anything, but it's not a good neighborhood to raise kids in."

He didn't respond, and I got the impression that he was thinking. Why was it that every time we talked I ended up revealing something private?

"So," I began awkwardly, "What about you? What is your family like?"

"Like every other pureblood family." His tone was harsh, different than it had just been. He glared at the ground, and I gave up on conversation. If he didn't want to talk, that was fine by me.

I watched Sirius carefully for the rest of the day, but he stayed in a foul mood, glowering at anybody who went near him. He made a first year cry, just by staring at the poor kid.

It wasn't until dinner that James came to talk to me.

"What happened? When you guys left for Arithmancy, he was happy. Or at least as happy as Sirius gets. And now it looks like somebody killed his cat."

"I don't know. We were walking along fine, and he was asking about my family, so I asked about his. Then he got really angry and started glaring at the ground. This is all my fault, isn't it?"

James looked awkward for a second, before he decided on what to say. "It's not your fault, but a rule of thumb is to never bring up his family. Odd that he was talking about yours though. He normally avoids stuff like that."

"Great. Just great. One more thing I've ruined. Tell him I'm sorry, will you."

I felt like such an idiot. I vaguely remembered, from way back in first year, the horrible howler that Sirius received when he was sorted. It said all sorts of stuff about him being a blood traitor and a shame to the family. I was an idiot for bringing that up- I should have remembered.

However, it wasn't until late at night that James confronted Sirius in the common room. It was nearly empty, just the marauders and me. I was sitting curled up by the fire, waiting for Noah, and the boys didn't know I was there.

"For fuck's sake Sirius! You say that you don't want people to know about your family, but you are doing a fucking awful job at being subtle!"

"I fucking know, okay. I'm sorry. But it's not your fucking family- you don't have to live with them! It's really not any of your fucking business!"

Their voices were loud and angry. Sirius was always angry, so I expected it, but James was more happy-go-lucky.

"It is when you make people cry! That poor first year was in tears, and Emma looked down all day. How is that not my business?"

"We just worry about you," added Remus.

"Well don't."

"It's too late for that. Isn't that the point of us being the marauders? We are friends before anything else, and friends worry."

Sirius didn't respond, and I thought it was a good time to make my presence known. I let out a quiet cough. Remus' head whipped around immediately, before calling a quiet "hello?"

"It's me- Emma,"

"Emma? How much of that did you hear?"

"Ummm… none of it? I was asleep?"

"Then we can count on you to keep your mouth shut? Since you were asleep and all?" James asked. They clearly didn't believe me.

**AN: The next chapter will be up soon!**


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